Gunmen Assassinate Sunni Cleric in Mosul

[maddezmom]

MOSUL, Iraq - Gunmen assassinated a Sunni cleric in northern Mosul on Monday, hospital officials said.



Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholar, was shot as he left his home in the morning, said an official at al-Jumhuri Hospital.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=4&u=/ap/20041122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_mosul_assassination

[teryang]

1. No commentary, no background

Must have been those terrorists and dead enders again. Why they're so crazy they are killing their own leadership. (sarcasm)

[maddezmom]

5. interesting use of the word "gunmen" and not insurgents or rebels n/t

[bunkerbuster1]

6. Don't worry, FauxNews will call 'em terrarists

or maybe "homicide gunmen." snort.

[KingChicken]

2. Kurds, they are getting even, I think they will be drawen into this

I'm sure the U.S. is trying to get the Kurds into this thing, that will only lead to far greater violence.

[maddezmom]

3. AP: Iraq Sets Election Date; Cleric Killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen on Monday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics' group that has called for a boycott of national elections, just a day after Iraqi officials announced the balloting would be held Jan. 30 in spite of rising violence in Iraq (news - web sites).


Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, was shot by gunmen at his home in northern Mosul — a sign of the continuing violence that wracks the country.

~snip~

Elsewhere Monday, a U.S. patrol that came under attack returned fire, killing two attackers, according to eyewitnesses. The insurgents launched the attack in Hawija, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. The U.S. military had no immediate confirmation.


~snip~

Several loud explosions rocked central Baghdad on Monday, sending a giant cloud of black smoke over the capital. The blasts seemed to hit the eastern side of the Tigris River, where several deadly car bombs were detonated last week.


Meanwhile, Iraq's leading Shiite cleric condemned the U.S.-Iraqi raid on a Sunni mosque in Baghdad on Friday, an official from his office said Monday.



more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[maddezmom]

4. rocket in residential district injured 5 people

A rocket slammed into a residential district in the center of Baghdad on Monday, injuring five people including a child, witnesses said. The blast sent a giant cloud of black smoke rising over the eastern side of the Tigris River.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have been clearing the last of the resistance from Fallujah, the main rebel bastion stormed Nov. 8 in hopes of breaking the back of the insurgency before the election.

Allawi called the Fallujah assault was an unqualified success.

"We went to Fallujah and we broke their back," he told AP. "We found enough weapons there to destroy an entire country."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[leftchick]

7. CIA?

that would be my first guess. Remember Operation Phoenix?